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Feed My Inbox <updates@feedmyinbox.com> Date: 2011/3/13
Subject: 3/13 Dilbert.com Blog
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alexandre.a.borelli@gmail.com |  |  |  | | | | | Dilbert.com Blog | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | If I were to say that Elbonians and rats have something in common - specifically their love of cheese, would that be seen as an insult to Elbonians?
Answer: Yes. While the point of the analogy is extraordinarily clear, and limited to a love of cheese, most people would wonder why I chose rats for the comparison when mice would have worked just as well. Mice are not nearly as insulting as rats.
Suppose you didn't know that I had contemplated using rats in my analogy. Instead, all you heard me say is that Elbonians and mice have something in common - specifically their love of cheese. Would that be seen as an insult to Elbonians?
Answer: Yes. No one wants to be like a mouse, even in a way that happens to be true for just about all mammals. Who doesn't like cheese?
Analogies are fighting words. When I was younger and dumber I often used analogies to try and make my point. This strategy worked exactly zero times. When people hear analogies, it flips a switch in their brains that turns on the crazy. Even the simplest analogies fail when you use them in an attempt to persuade. And they fail every time.
With that said, there are two proper times to use analogies. One way is in the service of humor. Humor is all about activating the crazy part of the brain. If I say I witnessed more horrible things than Charlie Sheen's cat, your brain leaves your logical mode behind. The analogy sets you free.
The second proper time to use analogies is when you want to cause trouble. You should not try this at home. Leave it to the professionals. For example, when you hear Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh getting a lot of heat for something they said, often there is an objectionable analogy at the heart of it. The most famous example is Limbaugh's coining of the word feminazi. If your job involves making people talk about you, analogies can be powerful tools.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Today's runner-up for the Wally Interface Award goes to HP for its Officejet Pro 8500 printer. The designers cleverly built a key pad with numbers that are almost the same color as the background of the keys, making them effectively invisible in most lighting situations.
You might be quick to point out that the touch screen gives you an easy-to-read alternative to the physical keys. But I've never successfully entered a phone number on it, thanks to the what-you-touch-is-not-what-you-get feature.
And while we're on the topic, I'd like to give a special shout out to the troglodytes who still ask me to send them faxes.
The winner of the Wally Interface Award goes to whoever invented the toilet paper holder with an open side. I suppose the idea was that it was easy to change rolls. And it is.
The downside is that you can't reel in the escaped roll without making things worse.
You might think that people can learn to yank in the correct direction to avoid launching the roll across the room. That would be a good theory if you had never met an actual human being.
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